Tuesday, May 15, 2012

What
got me thinking, again, about museums is the number there are in La Rochelle,
France. Now La Rochelle is not a very large city. It has about 80,000 residents,
whose numbers are buoyed by the several million tourists who visit every year.

Yet
for a city of its size, La Rochelle has about 10 museums. There could be more,
but I’ve been able to count 10 so far. Some are public museums and others are
private ones; a couple are large and others are tiny. The museums are on all
domains under the sun – natural history, modern art, the ‘new’ world, maritime
history, World War II, scale models. And all of them seem to draw in a good
number of visitors – at least in spring and summer. And all of them add a zing
to the city.

All
of which had me thinking about Trivandrum, the city I consider my home town. It
is larger than La Rochelle both in area and population. And yet, it has only
four museums that I can think of. One privately-run and three run by the
government. And yes, it may soon have a fifth one.

For
a city with a million or so residents, and one that draws several million
tourists every year four, and indeed five, museums is just not enough. We need
simply need more of them for the many worlds they open up.

Equally
possible are several other smaller museums underpinned by private collections.
There are people in Trivandrum with interesting collections of objects ranging
from antiques and art to coins and LP records. Why can’t these collections be
turned into museums? For nowhere is it said that a museum has to be a huge
building with a vast collection. These private collections could even be
temporary exhibitions in an existing museum.

The
possibilities are many and should be explored. Of course, even as we open new
museums we need to ensure that they are interesting, accessible and well
maintained – all crucial challenges in India as I wrote a few months ago.

What
we need, perhaps, in Trivandrum – and elsewhere in India – is some sort of a
partnership between the public and private spheres to ensure that museums of
all sorts are part of our vision of development, part of the social
infrastructure we are building.

I
know that for India museums may not be a priority. But they are an investment
in our past and our future. For in various ways they tell our story, just as
the many museums of La Rochelle tell the story of this beautiful city and of
France.